Several years back, I had a woodpecker trying to build a home in my hotel building. I thought the best way to get rid of him would be an air rifle so I walked down to the hardware store and picked up one of these. It's the Crossman breakbarrel.

I got it home and was both impressed and disappointed by the thing. On the up side, it was a pretty sound rifle. It had a solid walnut stock and a nice feel to it, and it seems to shoot pretty straight. On the down side, the sights were all plastic, and it was far too powerful for what I wanted to do. The pellet went completely through a 1" pine board, which means that it would go through my outer wall if I shot any bird pecking on my hotel.

Well, I got rid of the woodpecker by throwing things at it whenever I saw it again, but I kept the air rifle and have had a blast with it over the years. Whenever I'm feeling a little bored, I set up a target and crank off a few rounds in my back yard. But the years have taken their toll on both the rifle and on my eyesight. The plastic sights, though very good, have developed a couple of cracks and require careful handling. the other problem is that my eyesight isn't what it used to be. I wanted to find a rear aperture sight for this thing, but they don't make one. Daisy has one, but it looks like I'd need a gunsmith to put it on.

Yesterday I bought the Crossman 4X scope. I have never used a scope on any type of gun, so this was an entirely new experience for me. It's still fun to shoot, and I think that now I need to start seriously working on my marksmanship. I can shoot a palm sized group at 20 yds if I use a rest for the rifle,. Not nearly as tight as I'd like. Shooting offhand is worse. I hit the paper every time, but there seems to be no pattern or group. I am very shaky and my trigger pull is not nearly as smooth as I want it to be. It always feels as if my finger is rusted and my pull is "creaky". Does anyone else ever have that feeling? The other thing is my breathing. Maybe this is related to my pull being so unsteady but it seems like I end up holding my breath for too long waiting for the trigger to break.

Now I've always been a pretty good pistol shot. I could always get tight groups with my S&W .357, but I've not ever shot a rifle except in summer camp when I was 12 years old. Is there a really great difference between the two types of marksmanship? Anyone have a good resource for rifle fundamentals? And how much of my trouble is just the limits of the gun? How is the best way to figure that out?

Any help would be appreciated, and I know I'm in the right group to ask.